Grinder



0d. 1945. A. MICHAILOIFF 2,388,172

GRINDER Filed July 10 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTR. BY J JMZ I 0% W Oct.- 30, 1945;

A. MlCHAlLOFF 2,388,172

GRINDER Filed July 10, 1943 5 SheetsSheet 2 mvszvrox Ott. 30, 1945. A. MICHAILOFF 2,383,172

GRINDER Filed July 10, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 30, 1945.

A. MICHAILOFF GRINDER Filed Jul 10, 1943' 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORQ Patented Oct. 30, 1945 FICEF GRINDER Alexander Michailofl", Hinsdale, Ill assignor to The Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, IncL, a corporation of Delaware 1 Application July 10, 1943, Serial No. 494,136

4 Claims. (01. 51-100) The present invention relates to an improvement in a grinding machine.

The present improvement is described in connection with a grinding machine for grinding contours in the webs of connecting rods, but it will be understood that the invention has other applications and uses. In the finishing of connecting rods it is essential that they be uniform and of equal weight in order that an engine in which they are assembled will be balanced. At present connecting rods for internal combustion engines are substantially H shape in cross section having bearing elements at each end. It is the practice in finishing such a connecting rod to utilize a grinding Wheel to accurately dress the web thereof. In present grinding machines wearing away of the grinding wheel results in the nonuniform finishing of the connecting rods so that they are not identical and will vary in weight. In prior machines considerable difiiculty is involved in determining the amount of wearing away of the grinding wheel, and subsequent setting of the machine to compensate therefor cannot be readily made even by skilled operators. As a result hand polishing is resorted to, to attain the accuracy required in connecting rods at present day high precision engines. chinesare not of a character which may be set to utilize the grinding wheel without frequent dressing thereof so that the. amount of work of which the wheel should be capable is not at- Also, present mamovable forwardly and rearwardly of the machine, a cam plate having a cam surface defining the contour to be ground, secured, preferably to the reciprocal table, a cam follower rotatably mounted in the head means and having engagement with the cam surface of the cam plate for positioning a grinding wheel, also, rotatably' mounted in the head means for operating on the work carried by the reciprocal table, any suitable means may be provided for driving the grinding .wheel and the reciprocal table.

In the preferred form of my invention the cam surface on the cam plate is beveled and extends forwardly and downwardly of the machine. The cam follower preferably ismounted for rotation about a fixed vertical axis in the head means of the machine, and comprises a frusto-conical member having its tapered outer edge inclined in the same direction as the beveled edge of the cam plate and in engagement therewith. Suitable gage means is provided for'measuring the wearing away of the grinding wheel, and a micrometer gage is preferably provided for adjusting the cam follower with respect to the cam surface of the cam plate to compensate for wearing away of the grinding wheel as indicated by the gage for tained, and this further disadvantage from the economic standpoint adds to the cost.

It an object of my invention to provide means for compensating for wearing away of a grinding wheel of a machine of the character noted so that the contours adapted to be ground will all be substantially identical irrespective of the wearing away of the grinding wheel.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a cam plate having a cam surface defining the contour to be ground, and a cam follower adapted to have engagement with the cam surface of the cam plate and a grinding wheel associated with the cam follower to grind the work as determined by the contour of the cam surface, the cam'plate and-the cam follower being adjustable relative to each other tocompensate for wearing away of the grinding wheel to maintain the contours and the depth of the cut in the work adapted to be ground by the grinding wheel substantially identical.

In order to accomplish the above noted objects, I propose to provide a grinding machine comprising, a reciprocal work table and a head means wheel.

measuring the latter. Also in the preferred form of the invention the length of the beveled surface of the cam plate is substantially greater than the extent of the tapered surface of the cam follower so that the cam follower is movable relative to the cam plate in making the adjustment to compensate for the wearing away of the grinding Now in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of constructing and using an apparatus in accordance with my invention, I shall describe in conjunction with the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of the same.

In the drawings:

Figure 11s a front elevational view of a grinding machine incorporating my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of theupper end of the grinding machine of Figure 1 with certain of the parts being drawn in section;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the upper end portion of the machine, as shown inFigure 2, with certain of the parts being shown in section;

Figure 4 is a view taken substantially on. the

line 44 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. a

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the pathsof the grinding wheel and the cam follower with respect to the work and the cam plate,

respectively; and

Figure 6 is an end elevational view of the cam follower and cam plate and of the grinding and the work as viewed from the left hand end of Figure 5.

The grinding machine shown in the drawings is a machine manufactured by the Thompson Grinder Company, Springfield, Ohio, and known as the 2V grinder which has been modified to incorporate my present invention. The grind; ing machine shown in its major respects is a well known prior art device and it is thought that a; brief description of the same will suffice for the present disclosure. The machine comprises a base 8, and a shiftable head means 9, a recip= rocal table I is positioned adjacent the upper end of the base for movement laterally or side wise of the machine. Suitable controls are provided for regulating the extent of speed of the t3 which is rotatable about a fixedvertical axis in the shiftable head means 9'. Itwill' be understoo'd that the shiftable head means 9} is suitably adjusted to maintain the grinding wheel [3 in contact with the" work and this is accom-.

plished in the machine chosen for purposes of this disclosure by suitable hydraulic apparatus well known in the art.

In the embodiment of my invention herein described the work operated upon by the grinding wheel [3 is a connecting rod, for an airplane engine.

As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4 a pair of and bracket' members 1:4 extend. vertically upwardly from opposite ends of the reciprocal table It. and at their upper ends provide a support for a Gam plate I5.

As shown more clearly in Figures 2, 4 5- and-2.6,

the cam plate is formed alongitsinner edge with an inclined cam surface l-6y extending down.- wardly and forwardly of themachine. The cam. surface 16, as viewed in; plan conforms to the contour which is to be ground in. the web of the connecting rod l2; It will be observed that theconnecting rod l2 and the cam plate [-5 are mev-g able laterally of the grinding machine together with the reciprocal table It. l p

Also carried at the upper ends of the brackets l4 and suitably secured thereto are apairof bearing assemblies 1'! which have sliding engagement with a slide plate member 8.-

As' shown more clearly in Figurev 2 it will be seen that the grinding wheel [3 is suitably secured adjacent the lower end of a grinding wheel spindle 20, which is rotatably mounted in end bearing assemblies 2| and 22 at the lower and upper ends respectively of spindle housing which is suitably secured as by's'ide p'ain'eTs 24, to the shiftable head means 9 to be movable therewith. A driving pulley 25, is secured to the upper end of the spindle and-a pair of belts'26' are trained over the driving pulley and a pulley 2T keyed for rotation upon the armature shaft of the elee trio motor 28 carried-- by a bracket means 29' secured to the upper end of shiftable head means 9. An idler" 3! for' taking up the slack, 6f the driving belts 26, is supported at the forward end of the bracket 29.

A cam follower is rotatably mounted ad of the machine in -a housing 42 formed, in part by a, recess 45 in the slide plate member !8 intermediate the bearing assemblies H. The

housing 4-2 is closed at its upper end by a cap -pl'ate member 66 Preferably wear strips 41,

48 and 4-9- are secured to and extend lengthwise of the edges and upper and lower surfaces adjacent theedges of" the slide plate member I8 on each side of the cap plate 46. The cam follower housing 37 forthe follower shaft 36 issecured iri spaced relation forwardly of the spindle housing 23 by a pair of sidepanels- 58- secured as by welding to the housing 3'? and the spindle housin'g 23.- The carnfollower 35' is of frusto-conical form and is assembled onthe end of the follower shaft 36: so that its outer taper-ed edge extends in the same direction as the tapered cam surface 1'6 of the cam plate l5; The head means 9 is yi'eldingly urged in a direction to retain the cam follower35 in engagement with the cam member k6 by suitable hydraulic apparatus well known the" art. The said means 9 is moved directly by contact by the cam and follower by yielding of the pressure exerted by the hydraulic apparatus to permit the; head means Gf to move for- Wardly and rearwardl y' of the machine as the cam follower 3'5- rides u on the cam surface of the member It". the embodiment shown in thedrawings, the longitudinal extent of the cam surface It indicated at (a) in; Figure 6 is twice that of the longitudinal extent of' the taper surface indicated at (e) of the same figure of the cam follower35. The; arrangement is such that upon movement of the cam follower downwardly i of its vertical axis a distanceof one dimensional"- unitthe cam follower is moved forwardly of the machine one half of the: d'imensionaf uni-t.

A gage 52 as shown iii Figure} is mounted at the front of the machine and a lever 53 pivoted fitterm'edia'te'its ends in bracket 54 secured to the grinding wheel housing 23; the lever 53 being adapted to be rotated in; a c0u-n-ter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 3'to bring the pin: 55 carried at-the lower endfthereof into engagement with the outer periphery with the grinding wheel f3 when the latter is stationary. This'causes'tne oppositeer upp r end 56 of the lever 53" to' engage-the: plunger arms? of the gage 52 to indicate on th latter "the e'x tent'of wear of the rinding vsmee'r'fa i A suitable microiiieter 60' is associates. with:- the feuower shaft 35 for positiening: th'e fol-lower 35 with respect to the cam plate I 5 to compensate forwearing away of the grinding wneer E3; 1

When a; new grinding wheel t3 is: assembled on the" end of the spindle 2c the control: wheel 39 is' rotated to set the micrometer at zero and the age 52 is adjusted sqtnat it'likewise indicates zero; In the pretense roan or the invention the gage; 521$ Gf'a character in wnicnnie dial is rotatalcle'so that it may be set at zero'witrr respect to the hand therefor which is adapte'd to be rotatedby movement ofthe pluhg'e'r' 51 as described. a griffdiiig' wheel [3 assembree on thespindre therefor and nircr ometersu wear of the grinding wheel.

and the gage 52 both set at zero, thelockscrew 62 is set to secure the micrometer at zero.

Afterseveral pieces of work havenbeen ground which has caused a wearing away of the grinding wheel, the operator stops the machine and measures the extent of the wearing away of the grinding wheel by rotating the lever 53 in counter-clockwise direction indicating on gage 52 the amount of such wear. He thenlrotates the followerspindle 36 by means of the control wheel 39 causing lowering of the cam .follower 35 an appropriate amount by causing rotation of the threaded portion of the followershaft 36 in the slide member 4|. In the particular embodiment shown, and as previously described the cam surface I 6 is of twice the extent of the outer tapered surface of the follower 35. The micrometer 60 and the gage 52 may be correlated so that the grinding wheel I3 is advanced forwardly of the machine in an amount equal to the amount of The cam follower 35 and the cam plate and its cam surface It are designed and formed in such a manner as to grind a desired form or contour utilizing the full life of the emery wheel, reduction of emery wheel diameter not affecting the form being ground.

When a new emery wheel is put on the spindle, itis naturally necessary to dress it with a diamond as is customary with all new emery wheels, The gage is then set at the proper reading, which is established by facilities provided for this purpose. I

In Figure 5, I have shown diagrammatically the contour to be ground in the web of the connecting rod l2, and the figure indicates the path of the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel with respect to the work. Also the path of the vertical axis of rotation of the cam follower is indicated together with the cam surface of the cam plate adapted to be engaged by the cam follower. It is believedthat it will be apparent from this figure that by positioning the tapered surface of the cam follower in relation to the inclined tapered surface of the cam plate, that the contour and depth of the web adapted to be ground by the grinding wheel may be maintained substantially constant upon wearing away of the grinding wheel.

If desired a plurality of jets 65 may be provided adjacent the grinding wheel l3 for conducting cooling or cutting fluid when the grinding wheel I3 is in engagement with the work. A suitable conduit 66 is provided with an inlet 61 for delivering the fluid to the jets 65. The jets 65 conduit 66 and hose connections for the fluid may be associated with the apparatus in a known manner.

While I have shown what I consider to be the preferred embodiment of my invention it will be observed that various modifications may be made therein without departing from my invention.

1 claim: i

1. In a' grinding machine of the class wherein a base supports a reciprocal table positioned adj acent the upper end of the base for movement sidewise of the machine with a pair of end bracket members extending upwardly from the opposite ends of the table, head means is mounted for movement forwardly and rearwardly of the machine in a plane at right angles to the table, and a vertical grinding wheel spindle is rotatably mounted in said head means and has a grinding wheel on the lower end thereof, the combination with said machine of a cam plate supported on the upper ends of said bracket members and provided with a beveled edge extending'generally sidewise of the machine, a cam follower having'a follower shaft and: comprising a frusto-conical member having its outer periphery beveled to correspond to the beveled edge of the cam plate but of a vertical extent less-than the vertical extent of the beveled edge of said cam plate, the

beveled edge of said cam follower cooperating with the beveled edge of said cam plate in different vertical positions of the follower to compensate for wearing away of said grinding wheel, an arm on said head means supportingsaid follower shaft for rotation about a fixed vertical axis parallel with and spaced from the axis of said grinding wheel spindle, and means for micrometrically adjusting the vertical position of said cam follower along its vertical axis. 3

I 2. In a grinding machine of the class wherein a' base supports a reciprocal table positioned adjacent the upper end of the base for movement sidewise of the machine with a pair of end bracket members extending upwardly from the opposite ends of the table, head means is mounted for movement forwardly and rearwardly of the machine in a plane at right angles to the table, and a vertical grinding wheel spindle is rotatably mounted in said headmeans and has a grind ing wheel on the lower end thereof, the combination with said machine of a cam plate supported on the upper ends of said bracket members and provided with a beveled edge extending generally sidewise of the machine, a cam follower having a follower shaft and comprising a frustoconical member having its outer periphery beveled to correspond to the beveled edge of the cam plate but of a vertical extent less than the vertical extent of the beveled edge of said cam plate, the beveled edge of said cam follower cooperating with the beveled edge of said cam plate in different vertical positions of the follower to compensate for wearing away of said grinding wheel, an arm on said head means supporting said follower shaft for rotation about a fixed vertical axis parallel with and spaced from the axis of said grinding wheel spindle, means for micrometrically adjusting the vertical position of said cam follower along its vertical axis, a slide plate member, bearin assemblies secured to the upper ends of the bracket members which extend upwardly from opposite ends of the table and having sliding engagement with said slide plate member, a threaded portion on the follower shaft adjacent its lower end and above the cam follower, and a slide member on said threaded portion and having sliding movement forwardly and rearwardly of the machine in a housing formed in part by a recess in the slide plate intermediate said last mentioned bearing assemblies.

3. In a grinding machine of the class wherein a, base supports a reciprocal table positioned adjacent the upper end of the base for movement sidewise of the machine with a pair of end bracket members extending upwardly from the opposite ends of the table, head means is mounted for movement forwardly and rearwardly of the machine in a plane at right angles to the table, and a vertical grinding wheel spindle is rotatably mounted in said head means and has a grinding wheel on the lower end thereof, the combination with said machine of a cam plate supported on the upper ends of said bracket members and cal: member hanng itsouterl periphery beveled to oorrespond to the beveled edge of the cam plate but of a vertical: extent less than the vertical extent of the beveled: edge of said: cam plate' the beveled edgeof said? camvfollower cooperating'with the beveled edge of said cam plate in diflferent vertical positions of the: follower" to compensate foe wearing away of said grinding wheel, an arm on said head means supporting said follower for rotation about a fixed vertical axis parallel with and spaced, from. the axis of said grinding wheel spindle", a: hand wheel at the upper" end of the follower shaft for raising and lowering the cam follower, and micrometer means positioned above the cam follower and below the arm on the'head means associatedwith the: follower shaft for positioning the cam follower relative to: the. cam plate to: compensate for Wearing away ofi't'he. grinding wheel,

4 In a grinding machine of the class wherein a base supports a reciprocaltable positioned adj acent the upper end of the: base for movement sidew-ise of the machine with a. pair'ot' endibracket. members extending; upvsza'rdly fro-m op'p'ctsite ends of the table head means is mounted for movement forwardly and rearwardly ot the ma.- chine inaplane at: right angles tothe table, and a vertical grinding wheel spindle: is rotatably mounted insaid. head. means and has a grinding wheel on the lower' end. thereof, the combination with said machine of a" cam plate suppm ted on the upper ends of said bracket members and provided with a beveled; edge extending generally sidewise. of, Ithemachine; a; cam: fiollower having a follower shaft, and; comprising a ftusto con-ical member having its outer periphery beveled to correspond to the beveled: edge of the cam plate but one; vertical extent fess than the vertical extent of the; beveled edge of said cam; plate, thebeveled edge of said cam follower cooperatmg with the beveled edge of said cam plate in different vertical positions of the follower to compensate tor wearing: away of said grinding wheel; an arm: on; said head; means supporting said follower shaft, for rotation about a fixed vertical axis pairall'ek with" and spaced: from the: axis of said grindmg' wheel spindle, aslide plate member, bearing? assemblies seouredw to the upper ends of the-bracketfmemberswhich extend upwardly from opposite ends" of the table and having sliding. engagement with said slide plate member, a threaded v portion on the follower shaft adjacent its lower end: and above the follower, a. slide member on said threaded portion and-having sliding movement forwardly and rearwardly of the machine in a housing formed in past: by a recess in the slide plate intermediate: saidlast; mentioned bearing assemblies,- a hand wheel at the upper" end of the follower shaft for raising and lowering the cairn folfow'er; and micrometer means positioned above: the cam follower and below the arm on the head means and associated with the follower shaft for positioning the cam follower relative to the-cam plate to compensate for wearing of the grinding wheel. 7 

